Danson is slated to take over the gory crime drama’s male lead from Laurence Fishburne for the series’ 12th season, premiering September 21. Fishburne has starred in the series since 2009, however he left in the spring after CBS opted out of renewing his contract. Reportedly the network isn’t happy with their once-star show’s dip in ratings and they’re banking on Danson — most awesomely of Cheers, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Bored to Death fame — to drive the ratings up.

Executive producer Carol Mendelsohn has said of the choice: “You can create a new character on the page, but until the perfect actor comes along and breathes life into it, it’s just words. We’re very excited Ted Danson came along.”

While NewsFeed doesn’t doubt Danson’s life-breathing skills (like we said, he’s awesome), we’re just hesitant to believe anyone can help the fading series. Twelve seasons (plus two spin-off series) worth of crime scenes is a lot of crime. Luckily, Danson will still be appearing on Bored to Death.